CHAPTER ONE
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
The culture of a people is the spice to their living, it is imperative to note that art as part of culture and tradition of a people go a long way to establish a strong background for the social, political, economic and religious development of the people. Udechukwu (1972), in Ali, (2001), says that a society’s environmental, mythical and religious peculiarities are crystallized in its art which as a result does not reflect or portray anything outside the society, therefore, that the objects represented in the works of art are those within the physical limits of the society that produce them. Typical of this is seen in the Ekpo masks, Afikpo potteries and the rest of Afikpo cultural items. Art is therefore a vital instrument for societal development and a pedestal for communal achievement.
Geographical Location of Unwana
Unwana is one of the towns in Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The network of roads passes through the town to various parts of the Local Government Area and beyond. One of such major roads is that which runs from Mgbom through Enohia Itim Nkpoghoro crossing to Erei. Another, runs from Unwana to Ogbu- Edda. Unwana is bounded by smaller streams of water and undulating land surfaces.
Unwana is located in the rain forest belt with patches of savanna vegetation but unguarded urbanization has given rise to deforestation in the town which is alarmingly fueling the problem of soil erosion.
Enyum (Unwana Beach) an untapped potential tourist centre is also another beautiful work of nature that adorns the geographical face of the town. The inhabitants are more of farmers and traders while some are craftsmen.
Historical Origin of Unwana
The origin of Unwana is shrouded in several myths and legends. According to Mbey (1990), the most reliable is the one which is connected with an ancestoral father who was a great warrior called Igbo- Ukwu. It is believed that Igbo- Ukwu and his people set out from Saudi Arabia in the middle-east in quest of conquest and settlement. He travelled to Africa and settled first at Ikoyi-Lagos. From there, he proceeded to Calabar from where he attacked, defeated and drove away the Ibibios who inhabited the area now occupied by the Aro. This brought about the similarity in language and custom between Unwana and Calabar. Mbey (1990) further clarifies that Igbo Ukwu and his people settled at Aro, and had many sons. Prominent among them were four namely; Egwu Uroochi (first), Egwu Ehite (second), Urobochiali, (third), and Ukwuenyi Njaka, (fourth) , others were “Okoro Igbo” who founded “Unwana” upon migration to settle there, and Eseni Igbo, who commited adultery with the father’s wife, and was expelled to Edda, where, he founded the village known as Ufu-Eseni. Igbo and his children settled at Aro for a long period hence the people of Aro call themselves Aro Oke Igbo. At the death of Igbo Ukwu, his first son took his brothers and expedited, thus landed at Ehugbo, from where Okoro Igbo took off to Unwana. Okoro Igbo had children that eventually formed the four villages in Unwana namely, Ezi Amanuma, Ezi Ukwu, Ezi Oti Inyi and Ezi Agha Inya. Unwana to a great extent, has unlimited cultural affinity with the Ehugbo, Edda, Amasiri and Akpoha inhabitants since they came from one ancestral father. Their mask heads and masquarades are almost same with little or no difference.
Unwana Ogo Cultural Values
Generally, Afikpo tradition aligns on same socio- cultural and religious pedestals and basically, Unwana traditional education anchors on the seven cardinal goals of the traditional African education as stated in Fafunwa (1974), where the traditional African education is said to be multilateral with the end objective of making an honest, respectable, skilled, co-operative individual who also should conform to the social order of the day. Unwana has varieties of social and entertainment cultures in the myriads of “Onyeigiri,” “Itili-Abali,” “Okumkpo” among others as the Ehugbo has “Okpaa Masquarades,” “Lughulu,” Ota-eru, “Ekpo,” the other Igbo communities have theirs as mmanwu and its chains as Iyiagboku,okwomma,Iga,Ijelle,Izaga, but by the limit of this study, these are off shoots of the Ogo guild. The Ogo guild is emphatic of these cultural practices to an extent that transcends those of Afikpo.
Unwana has a very strong guild in which every male child should be initiated into to achieve full manhood. The Ogo guild is an embodiment of traditional education poised to expose the young male children to good morals and craft skills for sustenance. The Ogo rites last for three years and take place in the forest and Ogo houses in the company of peers. There are specified activities for each year which the initiates compulsorily participate in. At the end of the rites, the initiated children present themselves to the community in their full cultural regalia and celebrate success upon completion of the initation process. This special celebration is called “ite-mbe”. The full accomplished male henceforth can participate in other various ekpo (mmanwu) groups such as Okumkpo, Itili-Abali, Onye-igiri and the rest of others. Okumkpo is a masquerade that serves as the police of the community used in checking people’s attitudes, while the others are for entertainment and providing social order in Unwana community. During the Okumkpo year, initiates who have gathered information about the evil men in the community compose songs and drama which they exhibit before the audience at the Ogo square. Upon rendition, such evil practices and the persons involved are exposed. Before the advent of Christianity, any Unwana male who did not undergo Ogo process can never be regarded as a full son of the soil. This practice has not ceased to be so, because Christian religion has a limit to which it overwhelms tradition.
Unwana in Afikpo LGA of Ebonyi State practices the Ogo guild which forms the base for the initiation of every male child in the community more as it provides basic cultural means of educating a male child informally but reasonably. The guild forms a growth structure from which the male child receives various forms of traditional education. It is from there that the child gains support for progressive development into manhood. Ogo practice prepares the male child for the task ahead in social relationship with the people, It is preambly an African traditional culture meant for every male child born in Unwana to be initiated into the Ogo society. The male child at six years is sent into the forest to thrive for a long period of time, the child stays with the other peers and elderly initiates who are to guide, check and assist in providing instructions for the development of the child. The male children stay to learn a lot of activities ranging from moral attitudes to physical maneuvers which enable them to understand their environment vividly. The learning process may be informal but directed towards sound moral, intellectual and physical development of the child, which breeds expected positive change in the individual. Therefore this study tries to emphasize Ogo male initiation as a process of art education, in Unwan, Afikpo North LGA, a means of teaching the boy child those techniques involved in producing art forms which are beneficial to life and creative development. The study uncovers various types of art works such as mask heads and other costumes worn by the maskers during the Ogo rites and also sought to investigate the effectiveness of the informal education process in producing an economically self sustained artists in Unwana community.
Art as an element of culture is dynamic, It is not static as such it is subject to the laws of change and continuity, (Egonwa,1994). In view of this, the Ogo guild which is part of the culture of the Unwana people is dynamic, changes and continues with time, the element of change is its educational value which provides direction and continuity.
This study provides meanings to certain key-words in the title such as: Art Education, Ogo guild, and Male Initiation.
